How to Start Your Own Caregivers Company in Arizona

The relevance of caregiver agencies has increased with more and more elders preferring out-of-home care. If you have a passion for service and people skills, a caregiver business in Arizona can be fulfilling and rewarding. In Arizona, the geriatric population is high and is expected to increase in future.

Arizona's children are also in need of caregiving services. As of September, 2009, more than 10,000 children in Arizona were placed under out-of-home care. There is clearly a high demand for caregiver agencies in Arizona.

Decide whether you want to set up a medical skilled caregiver agency or a non-medical one. As a non-medical caregiver agency, you provide personal assistance, housekeeping and other domestic assistance and transportation for clients. A medically-skilled agency, however, has to look after the medical needs of the residents and administer treatments and therapies according to physician guidelines, under a license. Therefore, you need to have extensive experience in nursing and meet several licensing requirements.

Research the caregiver business. Network with other caregiver agencies and understand how they work. Contact local help groups to learn about the kind of support people in specific areas are expecting. For example, there may be elderly people who need out-of-home care, or there may be children who need caregiver agencies because of working parents.

Obtain an IRS-issued Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), for identification of your business for tax purposes.

Register your business with Arizona’s State of Secretary. Check the availability of your chosen business name and logo.

Obtain a local business license according to the regulations of your county or city.

Prepare a guideline detailing procedures to operate the agency, including admissions, caregiving, billing, employee management, ethics and general activities.

Find a location for your agency. Whether you purchase or rent the location, it should be large enough to serve as a comfortable out-of-home care facility and an administration office. Ensure that the area is far from competitive agencies and is close to medical facilities, essential shops and transportation venues.

Equip your office with furnishings. You need general office furniture as well as home amenities. Set up a computer to manage correspondence and equip it with basic accounting software to handle client accounts.

Hire caregiver employees. Post vacancies in local newspapers or on job sites such as simplyhired.com. Nursing and other training institutes that offer caregiving courses are good sources for finding qualified employees. Hire candidates that are skilled, patient and compassionate.

Promote your business with brochures and business cards. Network with local physicians, social workers, medical facilities, help groups and rehab centers. They can be good referral sources.

Tips

Be attuned to all your client and employee needs and address them accordingly.

Warnings

Starting a caregiver business is a huge undertaking and requires immense perseverance and determination to succeed.

References

About the Author

Hailing out of Pittsburgh, Pa., David Stewart has been writing articles since 2004, specializing in consumer-oriented pieces. He holds an associate degree in specialized technology from the Pittsburgh Technical Institute.